IDC Seminar by Sidney Brinson

24 Jun 2015 4.00pm to 5.00pm

Abstract
Particulate air pollution produced from burning biomass is having a significant impact on human health and quality of life for residents in haze-prone regions of Asia. Children, particularly those with respiratory conditions like asthma, are a vulnerable population for which properly-fitting, sustainable, and economically accessible breathing masks are not readily available. 

The purpose of this project is to conduct a thoughtful, empathetic and rigorous exploration of this issue and to design an effective, sustainable, and child-appropriate haze protection mask for manufacture. A human-centered design inquiry here in Singapore will be used to gain data for future approaches in air pollution protection, potential child-sized product development, and highlight the impact that biomass burning in the palm oil industry is having on residents in Southeast Asia. 

Team members and collaborators in this project: Professor Kristin Wood (SUTD), Assistant Professor Subburaj Karupppasamy (EPD), Katherine Fu, (Georgia Tech), Cassandra Telenko (Georgia Tech), and Bradley Camburn (IDC). 

About the Speaker
Sidney Brinson is industrial design graduate student at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia and a visiting Research Assistant at IDC advised by Professor Kristin Wood. Before joining the MID program at Georgia Tech, she worked as a 3D Animator for Turner Studios and produced visual effects for television commercials, shows, and movies for clients like Turner Classic Movies, Adult Swim, and Cartoon Network. 

After eight years in the 3D animation industry, a growing desire to use her creative problem-solving skills to design solutions for environmental and socio-economic challenges eclipsed her career and she enrolled in the three year MID program at Georgia Tech. She is currently most interested in designing products and solutions for the medical and healthcare industries, including design solutions specifically focused on the older-adult population. 

She is also a graduate teaching assistant in Visual Design Thinking: a sketching and visual design communication class, former treasurer of Industrial Design Society of America’s Georgia Tech chapter, and a winner of the Georgia Tech Convergence Innovation Competition.